Starting

Maintained by mods and admins. but contains all the answers to all those questions that get asked over and over and over . .
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knackeredMk1
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Starting

Post by knackeredMk1 » 14 Aug 2012, 03:09

First things first - Always leave the fuel stop cock in the 'off' position when not riding the bike. This stops petrol leaking through the carb into the cylinder.

Turn the fuel tap on. It takes a few seconds for the carb bowl to fill, so don't immediatly start kicking the engine over. (A see-through aftermarket fuel filter is useful here as you can see the petrol going into the carb).

If the engine is cold put the choke on (push the lever down on standard carbs).

Pull the kickstart out and gently push it down until you can feel that the restistance to movement is increasing sharply. Allow the kickstart to return to the top. Now kick down hard whilst not turning the throttle at all. You may need to do this a few times before you can hear the engine catch/fire - then twist the throttle a few degrees as the engine catches/fires to allow the revs to increase slightly.

Once the engine has started, keep it running using very small blips on the throttle and turn the choke off as soon as you can maintain the engine running in this manner. The time you take to turn off the choke may vary with temperature and engine condition/jetting. In warm weather it may only take a few seconds, whilst in cold it might take 20-30 seconds.

Once the engine has warmed enough go for a gentle ride. Initial warming may take from a minute to 3 minutes. Once you have gone 300-400 metres build up the amount of throttle you use and the bike will generally be thoroughly warm after ten minutes or 3 to 4 miles. You may have to go through a period of rough throttle respose/running before the engine 'clears out' and runs smoothly.

You will find the bike smokey whilst in the initial warm up and the warm up ride. Once warmed through and 'cleared out' the engine should produce very little smoke. You are unlikely to find that the engine idles correctly until it is thoroughly warmed through, though this does vary.

If you are having trouble starting a CRM and are new to the bike it is often because you are twisting the throttle whilst you kick over the engine. This will generally cause the engine to flood and once this has happened it can be very difficult to start. If you have flooded the engine you will usually notice the strong smell of unburnt petrol. The solution to this depends on how much flooding has occurred. If there is little then changing the spark plug to a dry one may suffice. Otherwise leaving the spark plug out for a few hours will allow the excesss fuel to evapourate and then try again usinga dry plug. If the engine is very flooded then you need to take out the plug and push the bike around in a high gear with no throttle and the petrol turned off to force air through the engine.

Sometimes owners find that the bike starts better when, after they have turned the fuel on, they put the bike into gear and rock it gently to and fro turning the engine over a few times. This gets some fuel into the system before you start to kick and can be particularly effective when the bike has sat unused for a while. Return the bike to neutral before you start the engine.


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